Standings / Recap / Comments
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The weird offensive parity in the AL takes some doing - it's not just that everyone's just producing at the same level; this kind of parity means that teams in good hitter's parks are underperforming and teams in bad hitter's parks are overperforming. Anyway, in spite of all that, the Red Sox are still lapping the field with the best record in baseball. Washington's still right there in spite of all the turmoil surrounding the team - will this be their last year in the nation's capitol? - and everyone else except the Indians are over .500.
As you'd expect with so many teams doing well in the East, the West is looking very, very mediocre so far. The division-leading Twins are only 4 games over .500 and have allowed more runs than they've scored. They've also managed without some key players, chiefly 3B Mike Brookes (.234, 5, 17), who's back now so you'd expect them to start creating some space now but you never know. The only team in the division with more runs scored than allowed are the Angels and they do look like a .500 team all the way to be honest.
The Pirates slipped a bit, specifically they lost 3 out of 4 games to the Cardinals to bring that team within half a game of them for leadership of the NL East. Pittsburgh's probably been playing a bit over their heads and it's hard to see a playoff team who's 3rd from last in offense. Then again, they had similar issues last year and still got into the playoffs. The Cardinals are like the opposite of the Pirates - good offense, less than great pitching - but overall they're probably the better team, especially once/if 1B Lorenzo Martinez (.228, 10, 29) starts hitting at his historical levels (not that he's terrible right now).
The West is a 2 horse battle still, especially with the Astros salvaging a 4-game series split against the Braves after losing the first two games. Houston hosts Pittsburgh coming up in an early possible playoff preview. Atlanta's pitching has actually been holding up better than one might think, which is to say it's holding up at all. They do have stopper Jon Winn (3-1, 0.48, 13 Sv) in his Cy Young 1968 form, so they're practically a given to pull out close games where they're tied or up.
Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Boston Red Sox 37 21 .638 - 238 191
Washington Senators 33 24 .579 3½ 237 173
Detroit Tigers 32 27 .542 5½ 233 225
Baltimore Orioles 29 27 .518 7 216 185
New York Yankees 30 29 .508 7½ 236 237
Cleveland Indians 24 33 .421 12½ 237 276
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Minnesota Twins 32 28 .533 - 242 249
California Angels 31 30 .508 1½ 240 238
Oakland Athletics 30 30 .500 2 219 221
Kansas City Royals 26 28 .481 3 241 268
Chicago White Sox 21 33 .389 8 205 231
Milwaukee Brewers 20 35 .364 9½ 146 196
Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Pittsburgh Pirates 35 26 .574 - 233 212
St. Louis Cardinals 35 27 .565 ½ 278 249
New York Mets 31 25 .554 1½ 235 194
Philadelphia Phillies 29 29 .500 4½ 237 224
Chicago Cubs 30 31 .492 5 285 305
Montreal Expos 18 36 .333 13½ 197 240
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Houston Astros 37 24 .607 - 273 260
Atlanta Braves 37 26 .587 1 303 246
San Diego Padres 29 33 .468 8½ 243 258
San Francisco Giants 28 35 .444 10 237 261
Los Angeles Dodgers 27 34 .443 10 252 275
Cincinnati Reds 25 35 .417 11½ 218 267
Major Transactions
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June 7: The Brewers traded RF John Marsden (.198, 4, 17) to the Yankees for OF Ross Poynor (.220, 4, 9) and minor league 2B Wing-fung Yi (.354, 3, 16 in AAA Syracuse). Yankees gonna Yankee here, and Marsden did hit .308 combined between Oakland and Milwaukee last year. Milwaukee gets back Poynor, who's been struggling for playing time after being a starter for the Bombers at 25 years of age 2 seasons ago, and Yi, who's not a prospect anymore at 26 and who's blocked by Ty Stover (.201, 8, 13 but he's in the top 3 in All-Star voting due to reputation) and Pat Jones (.283, 1, 8). Still, dude's tearing up the American Association.
June 7: The Reds claimed RP Terrence Bryant (0-1, 14.81) off waivers from the Boston Red Sox. Bryant has been very bad so far this year but was ione of the best lefty relievers in the league last year with a 1.63 ERA over 49.2 innings of work. The Reds hope they can work him back into form.
June 11: The Padres traded RP Dan Schoner (0-0, 2.29) to the Cardinals for OF Jake Leone (.156, 1, 3) and RP Pat Fix (1-0, 5.93, 1 Sv). Schoner seems to do things on smoke and mirrors - his 4.1 K/9 rate this year is his highest since 1966 - but he gets the job done and has a history of pitching well in high leverage situations. That can only help a beleaguered Cardinals bullpen and from their standpoint they're not giving up a lot - Fix was recently sent down to Tulsa and as a 29 year old he's played all of 38 games in the major leagues, and Leone started 91 games in center field last year but has seen his job taken away by Rule V pick Jim James (.250, 8, 23). Both players get a chance at new starts with an expansion team.
June 13: The Tigers trade minor league P Jonathan Feuerborn (7-4, 2.08 at A Clinton) and minor league P Pedro Rodriguez (4-3, 2.93 at AA Montgomery) for RF Corey Harpst (.225, 0, 11). Harpst had missed all of 1970 and just wasn't hitting well enough to hold down the corner OF so the Phillies chose to trade him before he got angry about being on the bench. The return is kind of sparse: Feuerborn looks decent but he's a ways away from beng major league ready, and Rodriguez is a 27 year old who couldn't stick at AAA this year.
News
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June 7: The Twins received some bad news about their star 2B Daniel Gilmet (.328, 0, 13): he suffered an undisclosed hamstring injury throwing the ball (um) a couple days ago and today it was learned that he'll miss the next month and a half. The 33 year old Gilmet has had a really rough time staying healthy - the last year he went over 400 at-bats was 1966 - and as such this was almost expected to happen at some point this year, which is a big part of why the team didn't trade away utility man Danny Pellot (.245, 1, 5) and acquired former Pirates starter Pietro Palmarocchi (.240, 0, 2) from the Cardinals in the offseason.
June 7: Dodgers CF Ben Ernst (.292, 2, 18) received some bad news of his own today; the centerfield, who has been out the last 2 weeks with a hamstring injury, suffered a setback and won't be back for at least another month now. Ernst had a great April and May and even won the NL Rookie of the Month award despite not playing since May 20.
June 7: Paz Lemus (8-3, 1.94, 8 Sv) ended a 16 game, 31 inning scoreless streak by allowing a sacrifice fly to the Cubs' John Timonen (.214, 0, 3) in a 6-3 loss. I guess if you're going to end a streak like that, doing so to make a 2 run loss a 3 run loss isn't the worst way to do it.
June 8: In a league filled with power hitters, the first man in the NL to 20 is... Cubs 1B Antonio Lopez (.316, 20, 57). All right, it's not so crazy given that the guy won the MVP in 1969 but he didn't even crack 30 last year and HRs are down throughout the league. On the other hand, Lopez, who got nicknamed "Walrus Gunboat" by his teammates, who are weird, and who has "Come Together" by the Beatles as his walk-up music, is only 25, so I guess he had a bit more growing up to do.
June 9: Pedro Arellano (.176, 0, 1), the former Phillies and now White Sox 3B who's never really been able to crack the lineup due to his poor hands, is demanding a trade. I guess this isn't completely unexpected but on the other hand he's not even showing he's particularly good at pinch-hitting, which was the only reason the Sox were keeping him around. Instead of a trade, I think he's getting his release.
June 10: The US ends its trade embargo of China.
June 10: Amtrak suffers its first fatal accident when 11 people are killed and 163 injuried when the train "City of New Orleans" derails. Steve Goodman's song that was named after this train has yet to come out this year (I think) but the crash is unrelated.
June 11: Neville Bonner becomes the first Indigenous Australian to sit in Parliament.
June 11: Cardinals OF Elijah Johnson (.272, 1, 10), the 11 time Gold Glove Award winner with the Pirates (he was traded to St. Louis in the offseason) thinks he still has something left in the tank and wants to start more in that crowded Cardinals outfield. He's not really a good CF anymore and the kid in front of him, Jim James (.250, 8, 23) does have potential hands issues but a. hasn't shown them this year (only one error so far all year) and b. with the power especially he looks like he's in a completely different class as a hitter than the 37 year old. I'm actually going the other way here: while I'll start mixing him in vs righties, he was the starter in CF vs. LHP and now that's split between him and the lefty James. That's what you get for complaining!
June 11: Red Sox 3B Kristian Schneider (.306, 8, 36) has been performing at All-Star levels this year but he's also had issues staying on the field in the past. It looks like that's back for him, as he needed to be removed from the game with a sore throwing elbow and was even placed on the disabled list. His replacement, for lack of anything better, is Edwin Madriles (.205, 5, 28 at AAA Louisville), who hopes to play more like he did last year (.262, 7, 33 in 65 games in the majors) than how he's done so far in the middle of the lineup in AAA.
June 11: Yankees 2B Ty Stover (.211, 9, 14) might be nearing the end of his career, and he might be having a lot of issues hitting in the clutch this year (he's hitting just 3-40 with runners in scoring position) but today he showed that if he's given a pitch to hit, he can still carry it out of the park. Stover belted a solo HR in the top of the 10th off of A's stopper Josh Howard (2-2, 3.71, 8 Sv) to carry the Bronx Bombers to a 4-3 win. Jesse Kelly (6-0, 1.52, 6 Sv) picked up the victory. New York is a game below .500 at 28-29, a half game out of 4th in the AL East and 8 1/2 games back.
June 12: Giants SP Dan Ballard (3-5, 4.08), the guy they acquired when they finally gave up on Roy Holm last year, isn't recovering in a timely manner from a finger blister and, with the team scuffling at 7 games below .500 (27-34, 4th in the NL West), they will stick him on the 21 day DL.
June 12: It's been a really rough season for Cleveland's pitching but here's one bright spot: reliever turned starter Keith Pacheco (4-3, 3.81, 5 Sv) earned his first shutout since 1965 with a 6-hitter against the Milwaukee Brewers. Yes, sure, it was the Brewers. Every little bit helps! The Indians needed every bit of those 0 runs, as Brewers starter Alex Izquierdo (2-7, 2.28) gave up just 1 run and 2 hits himself. LF Alonzo Huanosta (.285, 5, 24) hit an RBI double for the only run of the entire game.
June 12: Orioles SP Tim Reece (4-4, 1.77) is a slight, 5'9" guy who's been overlooked by the entire league. He's with his 3rd team in 3 years, having been sold from the Astros to the Padres and then flipped this past December along with reliever Chris Valenzuela in a package that included Paul McCartney. He showed signs last year of maybe being more than people bargained for when he finished 10th in the NL in ERA with a 3.07 mark. But this year, in spite of the record, Reece has looked amazing at times. Today he threw a 7 hit, 11 strikeout shutout in a 5-0 win against the White Sox. "Everyone wrote me off," he said after the game. "and I sent them all thank you notes."
June 12: Braves RF Henry Riggs (.299, 19, 50) belted a 2 run homerun to tie the game with the Astros at 3 apiece and in the process hit his 499th career HR. Unfortunately for him, Braves setup man Sun-jin Lee (0-2, 3.93) gave up a pair of singles in the 9th to lose it. The Braves have an entire week plus - 9 games total - left between now and the end of the road trip, and it seems like a given that Riggs will belt number 500 away from home.
June 13: The New York Times begins to publish The Pentagon Papers, a history written for the US Department of Defense that demonstrated, among other things, that Lyndon B. Johnson had repeatedly lied about US involvement in Vietnam.
June 13: Gijs van Lennep and Helmut Marko win the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
June 13: The bad times in Cleveland come to a head, as CF Carlos Hernandez (.267, 2, 13) reportedly pulls a gun on 1B Ernesto Garcia (.281, 22, 51), who was allegedly angered over Garcia's indifferent play. This was according to Garcia; Hernandez denied the incident happened (note: this is my version of the Ken Johnson incident, although IRL Johnson was later suspended by the team for lackadaisical play and probably the "Chico Ruiz" in this storyline will be the one who gets the axe).
June 13: This is what great teams do. The Red Sox, faced with a possible series sweep by the Royals and down 6-2 in the top of the 9th, staged a 5-run rally against Kansas City to win the game 7-6. SS Oniji Handa (.235, 2, 24), hitting .289 for the month after a .189 May, started the rally with a 1 out single to right. Then the Bosox just kept singling and doubling their way to a win off of starter Jose Chavez (4-2, 4.76) and reliever Joe Field (0-1. 4.26) until they got their first lead of the night. Matt Brock (3-1, 3.19, 11 Sv), pitching his 3rd game in 3 days, threw a scoreless 9th for the save.
June 13: GAME OF THE WEEK - There's really only one choice here: Atlanta (37-25) is at Houston (36-24) with both teams fighting for the NL West lead. Additionally, Braves RF Henry Riggs (.299, 19, 50), who's having as good a season as he's ever had at age 35, is sitting at 499 homeruns. Will he be the first player in modern league history to get to 500? Julio Sandoval (3-5, 3.66), the former 18 game winner for the Miracle Mets of '69, takes the mound for Atlanta against Astros ace Tony Rivera (10-2, 2.82), who's turned his game up a notch following a 19-11 campaign in 1970.
Welp, it's a bit anticlimactic, and it's 162 game season blah blah blah. Rivera (11-2, 2.79) goes 8+ before giving the ball to closer Jon Douglas (1-6, 3.31, 13 Sv). Douglas has been a little bit up and down this year with 7 meltdowns vs 14 shutdowns (this is an anachronistic stat, I know, but I like the story it tells; also due to the role that they're used in, 70s era stoppers have waaay higher totals here for both than modern closers do) but tonight was an "up" night, as he faced 4 batters in the 9th and picked up the save. Riggs (.298, 19, 50) carried a lifetime .347 average into the game vs. Rivera but with no HRs against him and he continued that homerless streak, going 1-4 against him.
June 13: Padres OF Greg Cowan (.264, 9, 23) was looking like he was really putting it together with his new team. However, staying on the field has always been an issue for the 29 year old and today he tore his hamstring and will miss the next six weeks. No idea what I'm doing with the position he vacates (right field) in the interim. Expansion teams are fun!
Teams in Review
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June 12: Even the best teams in the league hit 20 Ls eventually and here we have the
Boston Red Sox. The AL has been really weird with run scoring and so the Sox are "only" 8th in spite of a star-studded lineup. They're pacing the league because of their great frontline starting pitching, as evidence by their 2.68 starters' ERA (2nd in the league behind only Washington). The bullpen could be better but then, the bullpen hasn't gotten a lot of work so far.
Rotation: The worst starter so far is the veteran Sandy Hinojosa (8-4, 3.22), who, as noted, isn't bad at all. Also, he's a 204 game winner and 2-time Cy Young Award winner who has a great shot at heading to Cooperstown at the end of hs career. No changes here of course.
Bullpen: Outside of Matt Brock's (3-1, 3.41, 10 Sv) 29 innings, the next highest total in the Bosox bullpen is the 16 pitched by long man / spot starter Kojiro Nakazawa (2-1, 3.38), and his totals include 2 starts. Boston's already shuffled off a couple guys who weren't playing; at this point I'm not making any changes because there just isn't much to go on.
Infield: C Jeremy Dolak (.220, 2, 14) is not doing so well and now it's looking like 1970 was his career year. Nevertheless the team is a little locked into things by success at the moment, which will probably be a major refrain.
Speaking of, can't wait for Mike Miller (.261, 5, 22) to start hitting like the former MVP that he is. He's still only 26 so it can't be age-related decline causing this. We'll go with a bog-standard slump.
With Kristjian Schneider (.306, 8, 36) out for the next 3 weeks with elbow inflammation, the Red Sox have a great opportunity to see if Troy Carmer (.154, 1, 2) can reproduce the numbers that saw him lead the IL/AA in hitting last year (.325, 17, 79 in Louisville last year). So far he hasn't but so far is all of 13 at-bats.
Oniji Handa (.236, 2, 23) is yet another starter who's failing to hit this year and he's yet another guy I'm not going to touch because you don't shake up a 36-20 team like that. For him, even if .236 with 6-8 HR power is what he regresses into, Handa would still be a plus player due to his defense - his ZR is already at almost +10 runs (9.9) and we're barely a third of the way through the season.
Outfield: It's hard to really say that the Astronaut John Glynn (.248, 2, 12) is "slumping" given that this is pretty much exactly how he hit last year. The 7th overall pick in the 1968 draft just is who he is at this point. One thing I will do is start mixing in backup Jim Coleman (.071, 0, 0), not necessarily because he's anything special himself but because there's no reason to ever be in a situation where Glynn's out there at less than 100%.